Fashion industry reps react as Grace Coddington strips off her Vogue creative director title

The fashion industry has been rocked anew after news surfaced that American Vogue’s longtime creative director, Grace Coddington, is scaling back on her duties in the magazine.

Coddington started out as a model before being hired by Vogue editor Anna Wintour in 1988 as a fashion director. The 74-year-old stylist has devoted nearly 30 years of her creative genius working alongside Wintour and the rest of the legendary magazine’s team.

Vogue confirmed reports of Coddington’s new role in the Business of Fashion. “After more than 25 years at American Vogue, Grace Coddington will assume the role of creative director at large and take on additional projects outside the magazine,” a spokesperson said. “She will work on several Vogue fashion shoots throughout the year.”

The confirmation sent the fashion industry reeling from shock, with some longtime Vogue readers calling it “the end of an era.” Others, on the other hand, expressed their elation over Coddington’s new endeavour.

Prominent designers, such as Marc Jacobs and Zac Posen, took to social media to share their thoughts about the news.

Marc Jacobs, in his Twitter account, posted a photo of Coddington while seating inside what seemed to be a theater. He wrote, “Congratulations to Grace Coddington on her new role at @voguemagazine as Creative Director at Large!”

Zac Posen, meanwhile, went into fan mode as he posted a picture of Coddington back when she was a model. He captioned it, “The end of an era, the legendary #GraceCoddington steps down as creative director of Vogue. I will miss seeing her vision in the pages of the magazine every month.”

Even Coddington’s colleagues in the fashion media reacted to the news. Vanessa Friedman, fashion director and chief fashion critic at The New York Times posted in her Twitter account, “In another generational shift for fashion, Grace Coddington is consciously uncoupling from @voguemagazine.”

With less responsibilities under the publication on her plate, Coddington is free to work on external projects, such as an upcoming collaboration with fashion label Comme des Garçons for a perfume. “That is something I’m really excited about,” Coddington told Business of Fashion. “I’ve always been a big fan of Comme des Garçons. I never take the commercial approach, and the process of it is fascinating to me.”